Washington Women in Jazz celebrates women artists in March

JORDANNAH ELIZABETH |
2/16/2018, 2:36 p.m.

Shana Tucker

If you’re looking for a great jazz festival right in your back door, the Washington Women in Jazz Festival will take place all over the Washington, D.C. area from March 10 to March 18. With the recent conversations at Jazz Congress, NYC Winter Jazzfest and the Jazz Journalist Association’s Jazz Media Summit surrounding gender in the jazz music community, attending D.C.’s Washington Women in Jazz Festival will allow jazz lovers to turn what they learned from the panel’s conversations into an active pursuit of support for women and female-identified musicians who perform jazz music.

The gender gap in jazz has only been recognized by jazz’s greatest musicians and thinkers, but this festival allows women to perform in an inclusive and celebratory space. This year brings Black women musicians such as cellist Shana Tucker and up and coming musicians such as saxophonist Sarah Hughes in a citywide lineup that will invigorate D.C.’s jazz community and attract audiences from all over the world.

Washington Women in Jazz is an important benchmark in the changing tides of jazz, and hopefully, it is a manifestation of what is to come in the future of jazz. Women-based jazz fests are portals for more national and international jazz fests to find women with talent and include them in the male-dominated festivals with grace and openness to women who have dedicated their lives to their musical crafts.

Take a look at the full Women in Jazz Festival lineup. For more information, visit the website http://www.washingtonwomeninjazz.com/